Thursday, April 16, 2009

anyone seen this campsite?

Female constable tracks down wanted man in the woods of South Mountain

MONT ALTO -- A 28-year-old female constable and member of the Mont Alto Borough Council hiked six miles Tuesday to apprehend a man wanted by authorities on a variety of charges.

State Constable Shannon Strizziere of Mont Alto said she was acting on a tip when she headed into the woods and up South Mountain in Quincy Township in search of 35-year-old James Welsh of Waynesboro.

Welsh was wanted on summary traffic citations and also wanted by the Franklin County Sheriff's Department on warrants charging him with non-support and driving under the influence, deputies said.

The non-support warrant has been on the books since January 2008, according to officers. The DUI occurred just last month.

No one had been able to find and serve Welsh with the warrants until Tuesday.

"I got a tip from someone who saw him and believed he was camping out on South Mountain," Strizziere said. "So, I decided to go hiking on the mountain at about 9:30 a.m. I'd tried to track him down before, but I was always one step behind him."

Strizziere said when she got to the mountain there were three paths.

"The first was a path to nowhere," she said. "The second path I went down a ways before I had to back track."

The third proved a charm. Strizziere said she heard the sound of hammering above her, and started heading up to where she would find Welsh, stopping in her tracks when the hammering stopped, and moving when the sound covered her tracks.

She hiked three miles up the mountain before she got to his level, came out of the woods, identified herself and called his name.

"He put his hands above his head and then behind his back, so I could handcuff him," Strizziere said. "He didn't offer any resistance."

Strizziere said Welsh was in the process of building a cabin that would have been a hideaway.

"He had a chain saw, a hammer and a hunting knife. He had sleeping bags. He had a makeshift fire pit," she said.

Strizziere said Welsh told her that he was, in a way, glad that his running was over.

The constable turned Welsh over to sheriff's deputies, who said they transported him to Franklin County Jail. He was in Franklin County Jail as of Wednesday night.